& besides Thee, there is nothing

Life is hard. Really hard. And the older you get, the harder it becomes. I wish I could say that I never struggle, never feel frustrated or sad, have never known heartache or loss, or never get tired or weary from the demands of life. But I think you know the truth without me having to even tell you. 

The older I have gotten, the more I have come to realize that what the world tells us is important is so far from what truly is important. We put so much stock in this life and this world. We view ours lives on this earth as indestructible and utterly infinite and question why God allows hard and painful things to be in this life. But the truth is, we were never promised a life on this earth without struggle or pain. He didn't promise us a life void of suffering or painful moments, but a life carried in His loving arms. In our darkest moments, He is standing there, too, knowing and understanding every struggle, frustration, and the things that bring us suffering.

I think God allows pain in our lives, not because He isn't good or just, but because without pain, we wouldn't know what it means to love and be fully known by a humble Heavenly Father who loves us without condition or merit and daily bends low to be with us. This is a fallen world, a world unavoidable of brokenness and sorrow. Christ didn't need to become us to understand us; He knew from the dawn of time what it felt like to be one of us. He came down to this world so that He could be our light in the darkness and bring us redemption through His blood. And when He entered this world, He was the God dwelling in our likeness experiencing everything we feel and see through our lens. Struggle and pain exists in this world because this isn't our eternal home. We cannot escape it, but find refuge in the One who pulls us close to His heart. That is the point of human suffering; to feel it deeply and know that the Creator of this world hasn't abandoned us in our deepest needs. He was the Man of Sorrow carrying our load down the road to Calvary, the God who has known far too well what suffering, pain, humiliation, and loneliness feels like, and isn't outside the chasm of what breaks our hearts or what brings us to our knees in deepest despair. His ear isn't deaf to our cries nor His eyes blind to our struggles and stumbling. When the sun hides its face from us each night, I know that He is still with me. He is always there. Every second. Never flinching. Never relenting. Always chasing. Always faithful. Never giving up and never letting go.

If you want to know why God allows bad things to happen to us or why things just don't make any sense right now, it isn't because He is a wicked God, it is because His plans are not our plans, the pain of this life is something we cannot run from, and He uses these struggles for our strength and His glory. We will never fully understand the mind of Christ or why things happen the way the they do. But I am confident that God truly is who He says He is and never makes a mistake or is ever outside the knowledge of what we are struggling with. We have to trust Him even if things do not add up or turn out the way we planned. We can run and or hide, but we cannot outrun or avoid pain, because such is life, and it will catch up with us one way or another. The only promises we have are that He will always be with us, He took on our pain and sorrows the day He died for us, and went to heaven to prepare a place for us. What more could we want? We place far too much intrinsic value in this earthly life and take our value in Christ for granted on a daily basis. In this material world, it is a hard struggle to find our treasure and joy in the glory of Christ. Our eyes are distracted by this world and the things that catch our gaze. We must fix our eyes on the glory of the eternal and heavenly life. One day we will leave this earth behind and spend eternity with the Lord we put our trust in; if we make this life all about us and our comforts, we have missed the purpose of life and what it means to be His follower. When I lay my head down at the end of each day, I find that there is absolutely nothing on this earth that satisfies my soul like Christ Himself. When I think about everything I am trying to figure out in my life, I am overwhelmed by it all and the only thing that makes sense is my security in God. After going to Uganda, I am certain that we can have absolutely nothing in the material sense, and yet be full of the riches of Christ. It taught me that our joy isn't in what we have, but in the Lord Himself. When we have nothing, we have everything.

I recently discovered the music of Jon Guerra and couldn't recommend him enough. His lyrics will change you. This song has spoken to me in so many ways. Take a moment and listen. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqiOgTRBbcA

"You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." -Psalm 73:24-26